Peachey says the conversion of Seven Oaks Hospital’s Emergency room to an Urgent Care Centre, which is scheduled for September, should proceed, but that a pause is needed on other phase two changes.

“I personally would like to see the Seven Oaks changes delayed. I would like to see them put a pause on this entire transformation to stop and sort out the issues we have,” says Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union.

Earlier this month, Concordia Hospital’s ER was replaced with an Urgent Care Centre, despite pushback from the Manitoba Nurses Union.

“We realize that in many cases, this has meant disruption for nurses — but not only for nurses,” Friesen said. “So we had 17 nurses meet with David Peachey. They expressed they are in need of sustainable conditions in the work place.”

The nurses’ union says overall workload and increasing overtime hours are factors that need to be addressed before any further changes take place.

“The amount of overtime and the workload that’s related to these changes, staffing, and nursing shortages are very stressful,” Jackson says, “and the fact that you are not able to provide that high-quality care you were educated with and that Manitobans deserve is stressful as well.”